7 Reasons To Give Up Star Wars
7. It’s Repetitive
There’s an old George Lucas quote that a lot of people like to make fun of, where he points out the repetitive, arguably lazy story elements peppered throughout the Star Wars saga as a positive, stating: “It’s like poetry. It rhymes.” He was mocked relentlessly for saying that, but when J.J. Abrams does it, well, it’s apparently so awesome, you guys.
Of the first six Star Wars movies, three feature a space station being blown up - two of them Death Stars. Abrams decided that the best thing was to soothe longtime fans and make them feel safe, that there wouldn’t be a repeat of the prequel movies. At this point, it’s all but accepted that he completely copied the story structure of the first Star Wars movie. It’s an easily understood decision - it reminds the alienated fans of their past positive experiences, but it’s poison to innovation. You can’t properly move forward if you’re constantly looking backwards.
The Star Wars Universe, or more specifically the galaxy in which the saga takes place, is full of colorful alien worlds and species, Jedi mythology, and political conflicts. There’s a feeling that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s truly out there in space, yet The Force Awakens focused on things that are reminiscent of the past. Desert planets, alien populated cantinas, revelations of parentage.
But it doesn’t stop there. Look at Rogue One. Though it wasn’t Abrams’ decision to retread a plot point from A New Hope, it has the same flavor. The next one will be a Han Solo prequel where we’ll undoubtedly see the Kessel Run, a reference from ANH that doesn’t even make sense and was written solely as a point of reference for the Millennium Falcon’s speed.
Right now, Disney isn’t being shy about its reliance on the past, even symbolically. While people like to describe The Force Awakens as a movie that “passes the torch” from the old to the new, it’s impossible to ignore the obvious and blatant symbolism behind Rey handing Luke Skywalker back his lightsaber at the end of the movie. She’s literally passing the torch back to him!
Do we need another Han Solo movie, especially when Star Lord is probably this generation’s version of the jerkish space rogue with a heart of gold? We do if your goal is to capitalize on old guy’s nostalgia, fully expecting that they’ll drag their kids with them to see it, justifying their presence in the theater.
Once again we see the metaphor: the parent is supposedly passing his love of Star Wars on to his child, but really it’s all about the parent’s love of his own childhood. Star Wars isn’t repetitive by accident; it’s by design.